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Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2011 15:37:02 -0700
Message-ID: <CA+yqC4YvAMLaao4dy2aXM7H5zPXySk4eAUZ2KSM4QnP+kQqF-A@mail.gmail.com> (sfid-20110804_003713_504184_2F0CA0B8)
Subject: Re: Bridging wired to STA interfaces.
From: Sam Leffler <sleffler@google.com>
To: Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Cc: "linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org" <linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org>
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Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 10:33 PM, Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com> wrote:
> We have some interest in being able to bridge wired systems to
> (virtual) STA interfaces, primarily for using third-party
> traffic generation tools over virtual stations.
>
> I was thinking of writing a sta-bridge module that mapped
> incoming packets on a wired interface to a STA with MAC
> that matched the source MAC of the packet. ?All packets
> received on the STA would be forwarded un-modified out
> the wired port.
>
> I think this would allow someone to create a STA interface
> with MAC matching a PC connected to the wired port and effectively
> have it be a transparent bridge between STA and PC.
>
> Has anyone attempted something like this before?
>
> Any interest in having this feature in the upstream kernel?

You've just described what's done in several products and it is indeed
useful.  The main issue is supporting it can incur overhead so you may
want to make it a compile-time option.

-Sam